I am a Managing Partner at Brookside Strategies, LLC, an energy and utility management consulting firm based in Darien, Connecticut. I've spilled blood, sweat and tears grappling with the full spectrum of barriers and misconceptions about distributed generation and energy-efficiency technologies. Previously, I practiced law in New York City at Paul Weiss Rifkind Garrison & Wharton, LLP and Jenner & Block, LLP. I also attended journalism school at Columbia University and earned a JD at Stanford Law School. I've written about energy and environmental issues for Forbes, The Nation, Mother Jones and several other publications. I am the Chair of the Northeast Clean Heat and Power Initiative. Drop me a line - or two - at wmp@cleanbeta.com.

Europe's Clothes Dryers Consume Half As Much Energy As America's

Like the vast majority of U.S. households, I own a clothes dryer that accounts for a non-trivial share of my electricity consumption. Like the vast majority of my fellow Americans, I would likely pay a lot less to dry my clothes if I lived in Europe.

Based on a new study by Ecova, an energy consulting firm in Spokane, WA, Europe’s embrace of new heat pump technologies is largely responsible for the transatlantic disparity in the energy efficiency of clothes dryers. Unlike Europe, heat pump technology has yet to arrive in North America.

There are 87 million residential dryers in the U.S. These clothes dryers account for 6% of residential electricity consumption, which is roughly equivalent to the electricity consumed annually by the entire state of Massachusetts (60 billion kWh per year). The annual cost of operating America‘s clothes dryers adds up to about $9 billion.

The energy efficiency of North American clothes dryers has made at most modest gains over the past two decades. By contrast, the energy attributed to washer use has decreased by about 70% since 1992.

Ecova compared the energy consumption of currently available European heat pump dryers to North American conventional electric dryers spanning a wide range of sizes, prices, features, and manufacturers.

The study, which was funded by the Super Efficient Dryer Initiative (SEDI), concluded that Europe’s heat pump dryers can dry the same amount of clothes as North American conventional dryers using only about half as much energy. The catch is that European heat pump dryers also took about twice as long to dry a load of laundry as North American conventional dryers.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

You can pry my Kenmore out of my cold, dead hand. Seriously, some people will accuse you of being a socialist for this article. There’s probably a branch of Freedom Dryers forming right now in the woods.

The U.S. has made some progress. Back in the 1970s, dryers threw off tons of heat. Cats used to sleep on them. Then came regulations. Appliance makers screamed and yelled. Yet, all the did was put in some insulation. Dryers now hold more clothes and cost about he same in real dollars. But the free market didn’t drive it alone: it took regulation.

There’s no insulation in driers. I’ve got the Maytag Cabrio dryer, too, a “high efficiency” line. Not a strand of insulation in there. I had it apart to replace the gas control valve (thanks appliancepartspro.com!)

Wow, $9 billion to dry the clothes annually! Even if this figure is off by 20% it is still staggering. Moreover, the fact that there currently exists technology to drive that $9bn figure down by a factor of 50%+ is also rather disturbing. Years ago in Toronto, I did laundry to take advantage of Ontario Hydro time of day consumption rates during off peak hours- 2100hrs-0600hrs. Thanks William for this illuminating piece. I always liked to hang the laundry on the line [when I had one]. That said, I certainly agree with your statement on the time factor. In the 21st century, promulgation & factual clarity on energy use across all sectors of consumer behavior is necessary in order to motivate positive change, change that will benefit the energy economics of everyone.